St. David sweeps D8 championships
Forward Gladding racks up four goals for Celtics in 5-3 win
WATERLOO — Zach Gladding couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.
The St. David Celtics forward, playing on a recently formed line with Cam Hyjek and Brayden Crawford, turned in a four-goal performance Thursday to lead his team to its second consecutive District 8 hockey championship with a 5-3 win over the Resurrection Phoenix. Crawford also scored for St. David, which completed a 2-0 series sweep at RIM Park.
“Good game, big stage, there’s no way you expect that,” said Gladding.
“It was just one of those games, everything was clicking,” he added.
Gladding’s game-winning goal was evidence of that as he lost possession of the puck during his drive to the goal, yet it managed to slide underneath Resurrection goalkeeper Max Parrott and into the net with six minutes to play in the third period.
He added his fourth goal into an empty net with 30 seconds remaining after the Phoenix pulled Parrott for the extra attacker.
“I would not have guessed that third goal was going in,” said Gladding.
“A little bit of luck, a little bit of hard work and it was in the back of the net.”
Meanwhile, in Kitchener, Lexie Schneider turned in a two-goal performance and St. David completed its two-game sweep of the District 8 girls’ hockey final with a 5-2 win over the St. Mary’s Eagles. Chloe Davidson, Alexis Bestic and Shelby Kempel added singles for St. David, Ella Murphy and Stephanie MacDonald replied for St. Mary’s.
Gladding, Hyjek and Crawford play rep hockey together outside of school but didn’t skate as a unit this season until the first game of the final series. The move, hatched by Celtics head coach Lance Roberts, was an immediate success as Crawford scored twice and Hyjek added a single in Tuesday’s 6-3 win.
“We know each other well, we’re good friends, ours skills mesh, it’s a good line,” said Hyjek. “I thought we were losing it today when they tied it, but our team never gave up. It was a good team win.”
The Celtics led 3-1 going into the third period but Keagan Vanderpool scored early to close the gap to one. Justin Labrie made it 3-3 less than two minutes later when he scored a short-handed beauty. Just seconds after Noah Trudeau was called for slashing, Labrie picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and skated full speed at Celtics goaltender Ethan Bulovas, scoring with a sweet deke to his forehand.
Gladding’s game-winning goal came four minutes later and a single baseball cap was tossed on the ice to commemorate the occasion.
“Both games could have gone either way and I’m proud of the way the guys conducted themselves,” said Phoenix head coach Tim Stapleton. “They showed a lot of heart and really fought back in the third period to make a game of it.”
Both teams will continue their seasons next week, with the Celtics competing at the Central Western Ontario (CWOSSA) double-A championship in Kincardine and the Phoenix playing at the CWOSSA triple-A tournament in Fergus. St. David’s girls’ team will also compete at CWOSSA in Kincardine. St. Mary’s will play at the triple-A tournament in Brantford.
Elsewhere, the Grand River Renegades scored a 5-2 win over the Waterloo-Oxford Crusaders to advance to next week’s Waterloo County (WCSSAA) boys’ hockey final with a two-game series sweep.
The KCI Raiders forced a third game with the Huron Heights Huskies by recording a 5-1 victory.